U.S. Housing Starts Rise in April; Building Permits Weaken
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
- Single-family starts fall modestly after March plunge; multi-family starts improve.
- Starts rise in Northeast & South.
- Building permits increase sharply.
Total housing starts improved 1.6% (-1.7% y/y) during April to 1.361 million units (SAAR) after falling 10.1% in March to 1.339 million, revised from down 11.4%. Starts rose 9.7% in February to 1.490 million units, revised from 1.494 million according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Total starts in April were 25.2% below their peak of 1.820 million units reached in April 2022. The Action Economics Forecast Survey expected 1.359 million starts during April. Data back to 2020 were revised due to new seasonal factors.
In April, single-family starts declined 2.1% (-12.0% y/y) to 927,000 after falling 13.8% to 947,000 in March. It was the lowest level of single-family starts in nine months. Multi-family starts increased 10.7% (+30.7% y/y) to 434,000, after holding steady at 392,000 in March. It was the highest level in four months. Multi-family starts have been trending higher since their low in March 2024.
Starts rose in April in two of the four major regions of the country. Starts increased 12.9% (5 4.9% y/y) in the Northeast to 158,000, following a 3.7% March increase. In the South, starts improved 10.9% (-7.1% y/y) to 760,000 after falling 16.5% in March. To the downside, starts in the Midwest declined 10.8% (+9.4% y/y) to 198,000 after surging 74.8% in March. In the West, starts weakened 16.1% (-13.7% y/y) to 245,000 following a 28.4% March decline.
Building permits declined 4.7% (-3.2% y/y) last month to 1.412 million units after increasing 1.9% in March. Single-family permits fell 5.1% (-6.2% y/y) in April to 922,000 after weakening 2.0% in March. Multi-family permits declined 3.7% (+2.9% y/y) after strengthening 10.2% in March. Building permits rose 14.3% (-10.5% y/y) in the Northeast and increased 3.4% (9.6% y/y) in the West. In the Midwest, building permits declined 8.1% (+12.9% y/y) while in the South, they were off 9.6% (-9.8% y/y).
The housing starts and building permits figures can be found in Haver’s USECON database. The expectations figure is contained in the AS1REPNA database.
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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